Thursday, May 21, 2009

An unexpected adventure?

In 2007 my husband and I made a shocking decision. We chose to homeschool our oldest child. For us, it was an agonizing decision. We loved the idea of public school. The first step in our homeschooling journey was to come to grips with the fact that the public school in our area was not the best fit for our child at that time.

During the 2007-2008 school year we limped along. I focused on phonics and basic math skills. We spent the majority of our school time reading. In the spring of 2008 I went into research mode. I wanted a curriculum that would offer plenty of guidance without feeling confining. I wanted a curriculum that integrated all subjects, did not involve me making thousands of copies, would allow us to easily add in our other children as they got older, and involved reading lots of great books. My standard was high.

By the end of May I had been introduced to Tapestry of Grace. To be honest, I was unsure. The teacher's manual was enormous. The book list was overwhelming. I was curious, but skeptical. Knowing that I would need to continue to focus on phonics and basic math facts, I chose to buy one unit of year one. The 2008-2009 school year served as a test run.

After a few weeks of Year 1 Unit 1 I knew that we had found the right curriculum for our family. This year Lampstand Press chose to begin offering a digital version of Tapestry of Grace. Now users have the option of purchasing access to all of the great material without creating a significant storage problem for themselves. I am eager to read all of the great book selections with my children. I love that I am able to focus on learning with my children rather than the preparation. I love that I can adjust their writing assignments based on 12 learning levels. And the great books, have I mentioned that already? Ultimately two factors made the decision easy for me, the organization of the material and the book lists.

I am looking forward to sharing with you our learning adventure. I hope that you will leave comments with links to any sites that you have found helpful in your schooling endeavor.